International Airstrike
International Airstrike (also abbreviated in common use to simply Airstrike) is the unofficial name of a Professional wrestling tag team consisting of Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel, both working for WWE on its Developmental Branch NXT. They have also appeared on Main Event and Superstars. They became a tag team after they competed in a match against each other, ending with mutual respect, and went on to compete for the WWE Tag Team Championship at Wrestlemania XXVIII in April. History Pursuit of the Tag Team Championship (2012–2013) On the March 29 episode of WWE Superstars after Gabriel defeated Kidd in singles competition, they shook hands and agreed to become a tag team. They then competed in their first match as a tag team at WrestleMania XXVIII for the WWE Tag Team Championship in a triple threat tag team match also involving Primo & Epico being managed by Rosa Mendes, and The Usos, but were unsuccessful in retrieving the titles, and with Gabriel suffering an elbow injury during the match. The team reunited on the June 6 episode of NXT Redemption defeating the team of Johnny Curtis and Heath Slater. They competed at the No Way Out pay-per-view in a fatal four-way tag team match to become the number one contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championship also involving Epico and Primo, The Usos, and the Prime Time Players (Titus O'Neil and Darren Young), but were unsuccessful with O'Neil and Young coming out victorious. On the June 21 episode of WWE Superstars, Kidd and Gabriel competed in tag team competition coming out victorious against the team of Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks, a feat they repeated on the July 26 and August 9 episodes of WWE Superstars again in winning efforts. On the August 24 episode of SmackDown, Kidd and Gabriel joined the other tag teams backstage in an argument on which team will be the new number one contenders, which ended in a brawl. The name International Airstrike was chosen on August 28 by the WWE fans via Tout and Twitter because Kidd is a Canadian and Gabriel is a South African. The team suffered their first loss on the August 31 episode of SmackDown against the Prime Time Players. On the September 21 episode of SmackDown, the team appeared as lumberjack's along during a tag team match between Daniel Bryan and Kane against Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow, ending in a disqualification after Rhodes attacked Kane with a chair, who would afterwards assault the team's with Bryan with chairs. On the October 3 premiere of WWE Main Event, Kidd and Gabriel lost a number one contender tournament first round match against Santino Marella and Zack Ryder. On the [[November 12, 2012 Monday Night RAW results|November 12 episode of Raw]], Kidd and Gabriel competed in an 8-man tag team match alongside with Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara defeating Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Primo, and Epico with Gabriel pinning Young. The team then competed in a 10-man elimination tag team match at the Survivor Series pay-per-view along with Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, and Brodus Clay against Titus O'Neil, Darren Young, Primo and Epico, and Tensai in a winning effort with Mysterio lastly pinning Young. The team broke up January 2013 when Justin Gabriel suffered a knee injury, and Tyson Kidd was also himself injured. They both later returned and did some singles work, with Kidd forming a team with Ricardo Rodriguez. 2014 The team reunited on July 10, 2014 and challenging the team of Adrian Neville & Sami Zayn. The team pursued the NXT Tag Team Championship. The team was featured in WWE 2K15. In wrestling *'Double team finishing moves' **Double knee backbreaker (Gabriel) / Springboard elbow drop (Kidd) combination **Spinebuster (Gabriel) / Diving neckbreaker (Kidd) combination *'Double team signature moves' **Aided hip toss (Gabriel) / Hurricanrana (Kidd) combination **Aided sunset flip **Chinlock (Gabriel) / Shoot kick to the opponent's head (Kidd) **Double hip toss / Double dropkick combination **Double snapmare / Shoot kicks to a seated opponent's chest and back **Double springboard dropkick **Drop toe-hold (Gabriel) / front dropkick (Kidd) combination **Suicide dive (Gabriel) / Hurricanrana or a Shoot kick (Kidd) combination *'Entrance themes' **'"The Rising"' by Jan Cyrka and Tony Bricheno (April 1, 2012–2014) See also *The Corre and The Hart Dynasty, Justin and Tyson's former teams External links * Profile Category:World Wrestling Entertainment teams and stables Category:2012 debuts Category:2013 disbandments Category:Teams and stables